A Half Life
by Clara Fonteyn
Summary: All six of them ran towards a future; separately at first, then together. At first it was just fun and games, but can they all stay together after a horrible incident threatens to tear them apart? P/A L/T S/B and other canon couples. T for language. Humor
1. The First Four

They met in the bus station. Percy, he wasn't even aware that bus stations existed anymore, until his sister Thalia told him about the one over on Mevale Avenue.

She knew that she shouldn't be telling him about it; she knew that it should be her responsibility to take care of him. But he was 23 now and she was 26. They were old enough. Zeus and Poseidon had been great parents; excellent, in fact. Oh, sure, there had been the stigma of being raised by a gay couple, but the fact of the matter was: Percy and Thalia got over it. It ceased to be such a big deal after the seventh grade. They were lucky that they got two loving, attentive parents, no matter what their sexual orientation was.

But it was time for them to escape the life that they were stuck in. It was like they were carved into a mural in a wall in Pompeii. Preserved, safe, but forever unchanging. He knew it; she felt it, too. And as much as both wished they were wrong, they knew that they had to leave. What they had was a half life, and both knew that they needed something bigger.

And so, on the 24th of December, they both left at the same time.

It was dark out, and cold. The crescent moon was beautiful, but not very practical; it didn't do much good by way of illumination. Both were wearing sweatshirts, with their hoods up. The fairy chorus of crickets could be heard from all over, and it was driving Percy nuts. Thalia ignored it; actually she didn't even mind it all that much.

They were sitting side by side on the hard bench at the station. Thalia was checking her cell phone for text messages, debating whether or not to leave a message for their parents. Percy was staring off into space, in his thoughts where Thalia had neither lot nor part.

"Mevale Avenue," Percy chuckled suddenly.

Thalia looked up from her cell phone. "What?"

"Me vale. It's Spanish for 'I don't care.'"

"Really?" she laughed. "I Don't Care Avenue?"

"Someone's imagination must have been either too big or too small…" Percy said. "It kind of fits right now, though."

Thalia nodded thoughtfully. "Well, not really," she disagreed. "It's not that we don't care…"

"…It's that we care more about...other things," Percy finished. Thalia sighed in agreement. Percy was about to say something, but just then, a blond girl collapsed on the bench next to them.

"Aah!" Percy screamed like a little girl. "What the hell?"

She'd crept out of the shadows, so neither of them had seen her until she was right next to them. He took a good look at her. She had wavy blond hair that was piled up messily on top of her head. She looked well dressed, in dark jeans, a blue collared shirt, and a jean jacket. Black tennis shoes completed the image.

"Oh, my god," she snapped her blue eyes at Percy and Thalia. "Have you guys ever tried running away? It's so much fun! I had to pack my stuff in a bag-and none of my stuff would fit! Then I had to bribe the neighbor to sneak it out and keep it at her house until I jumped out of my window at midnight. I sneaked around to her bedroom window and howled like a lone wolf. She dropped my bag from the window, wished me good luck, and went back inside. I ran like hell and I got here."

Percy blinked. Thalia stared.

"IGod, I'm so glad I'm not stuck in my old life anymore. I was starting to feel like I should kill everything that was moving-whoa!" She stopped talking. "I didn't mean to tell all those things to you. I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Silena. Silena Beauregard. Who are you guys?"

Percy hesitated, but Thalia laughed. "I'm Thalia Grace, and this is Percy Jackson."

"Oooh! Are you guys eloping? That's so romantic!"

"Ew!" Percy and Thalia screamed simultaneously. "No way in hell!" Percy screamed. "We're siblings. I mean, we were adopted. And I would kill myself before I married her. No, wait; I would sing like Justin Bieber before I married her!"

"Ew!" It was Silena's turn to say. "I hate Justin Bieber. I didn't know that they still emasculated poor, unsuspecting kids! But I believed it after I heard Justin sing."

Thalia laughed again. "So, where are you planning to go?"

Silena's eyes glowed. "I'm thinking New York City," she told them. "I would love to live there. It's amazing! I go every year, and I love it there. What about you guys?"

"We hadn't decided yet," Percy said hesitatingly. "We were thinking Chicago, though."

"Why don't we pool resources and escape together?" Thalia interrupted him. She was always the more daring, and she liked Silena. Percy was more hesitant, and he wasn't the most trusting of girls after what happened to him. "Only if it's okay with you, though."

"Really?" Silena squealed. "Oh, my God! That's so nice of you! I'd love it. I can take care of myself-" she chuckled darkly before resuming her cheerful personality "-but it's just not the same traveling alone, right?"

"I know what you mean," Thalia said. "It's so weird-we're all running away together. Why are you?"

"You first," Silena requested.

"Well…" Thalia exchanged a look with Percy. "Well," she repeated. "We just thought...that is, we just felt that there was something more out there. We were stuck in a groove. Our lives were boring; they were the same, day to day thing. College, sleep, work, sleep, occasionally party. Nothing exciting. So…we decided to…"

"Go. I get it," Silena smiled. "I'm leaving because…well, my parents don't really care about me. Nobody really does, so I have no reason to be here. I don't want to be here. So I'm leaving. It's pretty simple, actually."

"So you have no regrets about running away?"

"I'm not running away, I'm just running," Silena corrected. "I have nothing to run away from, so, no…" she pointed to the street sign. "Me vale. I don't care."

"You speak Spanish?" Percy asked happily.

"My dad's Puerto Rican; I grew up multilingual."

"Oh; I took Spanish in high school," Percy replied.

"What about you, Thalia?" Silena asked.

Thalia shrugged. "I took German. Is that our bus?" she said, referring to the ozone-layer destroying monstrosity that was rumbling towards them.

"Yup," Silena said, checking. "Well, it's my bus…"

"Ours, too," Percy said. The three stood up together, and walked towards the doors.

"We were two and one, and now we are three," Silena said. Thalia gave her a questioning look. "Sorry; I say weird things like that all the time."

"That sounded good, actually; we were two and one, and now we are three," Thalia repeated.

"Well, there's powers in numbers. We can't get much more powerful," Percy said.

Incorrect.

Their traveling party was not complete yet.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

Annabeth Chase stared out the filthy bus window. She was vaguely aware of the book in her lap, but chose to ignore it. Right now, for the first time in her life, she was happy to be where she was-a bump of the road town somewhere in New Mexico.

She imagined that the town had changed very little from the 1950s to the present day. The Connie Francis classics booming loudly in her ears from her iPod only added to the image.

A little house surrounded by a white fence passed by. A little dog yapped excitedly, and Annabeth's lips twitched. She bet that there was a mommy, a daddy, and two point five kids in the house, happily sleeping.

The diner passed by, too; it was illustrated by a neon sign reading "The Diner". She sighed and turned back to the well read edition of _Anna Karenina_. Just then, though, the bus stopped, the doors opened, and three people of around her age piled on. She wondered dimly what they were doing, getting on the bus at 2 in the morning.

The seats on the bus were almost all filled, except for the one behind Annabeth and the seats behind her. Altogether, there was space for only three more.

The girl and the boy with black hair sat behind Annabeth, leaving only the seat next to her open. The girl with blond hair and blue eyes sat down next to Annabeth, smiling in the process. Annabeth tried to smile back, but wasn't sure if she succeeded. The fact of the matter was: she wasn't in the mood for smiling.

"Hi," said the girl next to her.

"Hello," Annabeth replied, and immediately kicked herself. _Hello. Who says that, you idiot?_ Annabeth berated herself.

The blond girl turned away, and Annabeth looked back, for a third time, at _Anna Karenina_. She cracked the spine open and began to read.

After six chapters, an argument behind her made her look up.

"Look, I'm telling you, we should all go to New York. We can pool our resources, maybe rent a car or something, and that way we won't be alone!" The girl was waving her arms around in tiny motions, mindful of the cramped area.

"And what happens if I don't want to go to New York?" The boy hissed. "I happen to hate the idea of living there."

Annabeth sighed to herself. To her, it was inconceivable to not want to live in New York City.

The black haired girl gave him a withering look. The black kohl liner around her eyes made her narrowed eyes even more threatening.

"Look here, Percy, I cannot count on a hundred hands how many times you've told me you'd like to go to New York City. Don't lie now."

"Okay, fine," he admitted. "But-" he lowered his voice and Annabeth couldn't hear what he said next. She looked to her right, to see if the girl next to her was listening, too. She saw that the girl was asleep, and turned back to the conversation behind her.

Apparently the two had gone back to fighting. The girl was telling the one called Percy exactly why they should all go to New York. He kept turning down and countering her every point.

"Look, we've got about 900 dollars between the two of us. We'll stop and make a withdrawal somewhere soon, but we don't know when that might be possible. You know how much we'll need to get to Chicago, even, and New York is farther than that. If we try to go to Chicago alone, we probably wouldn't make it. If all three of us went to New York, we might have a chance of making it."

"It still wouldn't be enough, Thalia!" Percy argued. "I'd say we need another person, minimum, to make it to New York."

The time between Percy's saying "New York" and Thalia's response was 1.35 seconds.

In that time, Annabeth had the following thoughts:

_They're running away._

_They're short on funds._

_New York is far away._

_What the hell._

"Excuse me," she interrupted them. Thalia and Percy looked up at her, surprised. "I know you have no reason to trust me…but I was going to go to New York-" she wasn't, but a teeny white lie couldn't hurt, right? "-and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation.

"You said you need another person. I'm a person. Annabeth Chase."

Percy and Thalia exchanged uncertain glances. "Percy Jackson," he introduced himself, then Thalia. "Well, you see…"

She looked at them desperately. "I know that we haven't even talked to each other yet, really, but I need to get away from here. Far from here. It's not illegal or anything, but I really can't stay here any longer. I know I'm asking for a lot, but you guys are my last chance. Please," she pleaded.

Thalia looked uncertain, but Percy nodded hesitantly. "All right."

"Really?" Annabeth asked.

"We all-" he gestured to himself, Thalia, and Silena- "are running towards something. So are you. That makes us family. We're all on the same bus. That makes us neighbors. We all have some of the same characteristics-"

"Like hair color, for example," Thalia injected snarkily.

"-And that makes us friends. So…"

"You are two of the nicest people I have ever met," Annabeth said sincerely.

"We're just heroes, doing our job," Thalia laughed.

"What's that?" Annabeth looked up in surprise.

"It's just a joke between us siblings," Percy explained. "Our parents told us to behave the way Greek heroes would behave. I think it was their way of raising us to be decent human beings."

"Your parents should be commended then," Annabeth said. "You, like I said, are the nicest people I have ever met."

"Not really. Well, I am, but _he _isn't." Thalia said, pointing at Percy and grinning. He rolled his eyes and snapped back good naturedly.

Silena had woken up in the meantime. Percy and Thalia took turns filling her in about what happened. She welcomed Annabeth with open arms.

"The more the merrier," Thalia said, and Silena and Percy agreed.

"We should all get some sleep now," Annabeth suggested. "We'll make plans tomorrow?" she asked.

"That sounds good," Percy said. "Tomorrow, we'll decide what to do to get from New Mexico to New York."

_Now, we have all the people we need_, Percy thought.

Incorrect again, Percy.

Not yet.

Their traveling party was not yet complete.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

**A/N**: I'm back! This time, I promise I won't go all weird and just leave on you…the issues in my life, I hope, are gone now. I've missed writing. I won't stop.

Please review, guys? Five reviews is my asking rate for another chapter. It has been since _Accident_ began, like, a year ago.

**Songs:

_I Don't Care_ by Ricky Martin, featuring Fat Joe and Amerie.

_Break_ by Three Days Grace

Kudos to anyone who finds the line from _I Don't Care_ in this chapter! :D Review and let me know what you thought. Feedback on Poseidon/Zeus? Please, guys?

**xoxo Clara**

P.S. Sorry if I butchered the Spanish. Blame Google translate. I took French in middle school. My Spanish speaking abilities are limited to counting to ten (Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez!) and singing along with Ricky Martin. Brokenly. And mispronouncing most words, probably. Sorry.

**Correction! **Thanks to **Anna145** for correcting my Spanish. Thanks, Anna! :) :D

P.P.S Today (August 29) is Michael Jackson's birthday. I have no idea why I just typed that, but…whatever!


	2. The Thugs

Luke Castellan and Charles Beckendorf were thieves. With drug dealing, gambling, and the occasional 'taking care of' on the side.

Unfortunately for them, they were horribly bad at what they did.

"Castellan! Beckendorf!" Their boss, a middle aged man with dark brown hair and a goatee that looked suspiciously like a horse's, thundered. "You are _fired_! Fired, I tell you!"

"But…but Chiron!" Luke pleaded. "You can't do this-" seeing the _murder_ous look on their mentor's face, he changed his sentence. "I mean, how can you do this to us?" he asked weakly.

"Because you did _that_ to _him_!" Chiron screamed, pointing through a window to a blond haired, blue eyed man in the next room. He was bound and gagged, and he was clearly unconscious. Clearly, because conscious people do not sag to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"But you said you wanted us to steal the blue diamonds-" Beckendorf started.

"I did not tell you to knock out our man! I told you to steal the diamond, not to injure poor Liam Georges!"

Beckendorf and Luke flinched, not because of Chiron's words, but because of the shower of spit that accompanied them.

Chiron knew this very well and slammed his hands on the oak desk. He stood up out of his wheelchair. Inside Kings and Queens, the illegal club, everyone knew that Chiron wasn't the innocent old man he pretended to be.

"We went dancing in the summer rain, we were dancing through the night, I never knew her real name, so I called her Spanish Eyes…" Luke mumbled under his breath.

"What? Speak up, boy!" Chiron hollered.

"Nothing, sir," Luke stammered. Music was Luke's passion in life. Unfortunately, he never made it to music school, so he got involved in the underworld. (He liked to think that he was better than Hitler, because while Hitler wanted to be an artist but was never accepted into art school, Luke _was_ but couldn't afford it.)

"Sir, please, please, give us one more chance," Beckendorf began pleading. "My mom never accepted me. I wasn't like my dad-"

"Ah, Metal Beckendorf. A true thug if there ever was one," Chiron said appreciatively. "Pity he never expanded his business. He would've made a fortune if he got into gambling."

"Right. Well, my mother wanted me to settle down in life, kidnap a couple of people, you know. But…" Beckendorf continued. "Well…"

Luke widened his cerulean eyes and looked like the charming, innocent young man he pretended to be.

Chiron rolled his eyes and sighed. "All right. Because I knew your father, Beckendorf, I'll give you two bumbling fools another chance. Today, at the Black and White, I need you to pick up the necklace."

"The Black and White?"

"The club in downtown, Castellan!" Chiron snapped, his nerves frayed. "I need you to pick up the blue diamond necklace. Three women and a man will approach you during a certain song. They will have the necklace. I have arranged for it; all you need to do is to buy the girl with black hair a drink-" Chiron slapped a thousand dollars on the table, "with this money. They will hand over the necklace. Then you come back _here_!"

"Yes, sir. Of course. No problem. We can handle that, sir. Right, _Luke_?" Beckendorf elbowed him.

Luke was still stuck on a detail. "What song, sir?"

Chiron closed his eyes and seemed to be muttering a prayer. "Some guy will be singing tonight. Enrique something. During his song _Jaleo_."

"What does that mean?" Beckendorf asked innocently.

Beckendorf and Luke stumbled out of Chiron's office, followed by several glass and crystal objects. The door slammed shut, but the sound of shattering china and screaming man on the other side of the door couldn't be mistaken. They both winced.

"Okay, this is our final chance. We've gotta get it right this time," Luke said. He continued on a pep talk, but Beckendorf just nodded in all the right places. He wasn't really paying attention.

All of a sudden he grabbed Luke's arm. "I'm done with this, man," Beckendorf said. "Aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"All this," Beckendorf gestured around the hallway. "Crime. I don't want to be a thug. Never have. But you know-I had to support the family and stuff."

"So?"

"So, after my brother became a doctor my family has enough money. Let's quit."

"_What_? Are you crazy?" Luke screamed. "You might have it made, buddy, but I don't. I still need to work here. You know that."

"But we're shit at this, and you know it," Beckendorf pointed out. "It doesn't matter how long we work here."

"I don't care. I need that hundred grand-and it's life and death, and _you_ know it." Luke said poisonously.

"I know. And that's why I have this plan," he said, leaning in towards Luke's ears.

As he heard the plan, a wide grin spread across Luke's face.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

Thalia, Percy, Silena, and Annabeth were wandering around some small town on foot.

"Guys, it's nearing eleven now," Percy said. "We should stop and make a battle plan soon."

"Where do you want to stop, idiot?" Thalia said irritably. "In the diner?" she pointed to the rundown, tattered place. Through the grimy windows, an even grimier chef and waiters could be seen. The customers, the grimiest of all, were seated on disgustingly grimy furniture.

Annabeth looked up at the name of the place. In large letters, the marquis announced "Grimy's Diner!"

She choked back a laugh. Or maybe it was vomit. She wasn't sure.

"How about that club?" Silena said, gesturing with her head towards the flashy place.

"Why is it that the rest of the town is so rundown, but this place is all awesome and stuff?" Percy said.

"Who cares," Thalia answered. "It's better than this diner."

"Yeah…" Annabeth agreed uncertainly.

"Are you all legal?" Percy asked. He was pretty sure that both were, but it couldn't hurt to check.

"I'm twenty two," Annabeth said.

"Twenty five," Silena put in.

"Good. So we'll go in, have a drink, make a plan…you know?"

"Should we waste our money on drinks?" Annabeth asked reasonably. Percy and Silena caught each other's eyes and rolled their eyes. "Well, it's a good question!" Annabeth protested.

"Just come on, guys!" Thalia waved them towards the club. Accordingly, they hurried towards her. The wind picked up, fluffing Silena's hair, blowing Annabeth's long skirt behind her and biting through Percy's sweatshirt.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

Beckendorf and Luke peered around the packed club. It wasn't anything too exciting; nothing different from what they were expecting. But, they couldn't see a group of four like Chiron had described.

"Where are they?" Luke groaned.

"They'll get here," placated Beckendorf. "Don't worry; you know Chiron. He wouldn't do a shoddy job. They'll be here…eventually."

"Yeah, I know. It's just my ADHD acting up."

"Dude, calm down. Have a drink."

"No thanks."

Beckendorf rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. I'm going to the bathroom. If they get here before I get back, keep an eye on them. I'll be back in a minute."

"Sure thing." Luke fixed his eyes on his cell phone. Beckendorf got up and left.

In the meantime, Silena, Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth had entered the club. They formed a little circle near the entrance, their heads almost touching.

Luke looked up and saw them, but he didn't think that they were the right people. They looked unsure. In this business, unsure could get you killed. There was a guy, and three girls, and one of them had black hair. But there was no way to be sure until they approached him and Beckendorf.

Unless…

Luke looked around for the guy who was singing (something in Spanish about a lady who he described as "She bangs, she bangs, _ay mirala_, she moves, she moves!"). He spotted him and made his way through the crowd to him.

"Dude!" he yelled over the commotion. The singer tilted his head to show that he heard him. "Your song _Jaleo_?" Luke screamed.

The singer grinned and nodded. He signaled to the band, and Luke could tell the music morphed into another song.

"Since it's such a commotion in here, and for everyone dancing…" the singer announced, "we're playing _Jaleo_!"

Luke glanced at the little group. He noticed that the black haired girl's eyes snapped up to the singer's. She looked next to him and saw Luke.

She grinned.

_They are_, Luke thought, _the right people_.

He walked away quickly, towards the back door.

Now all he had to do was wait for them to approach him.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

"Hey, I know this song!" Thalia shouted over the deafening music. "I think it's by that one dude…"

"Right," Percy said slowly. Thalia and her music could get to be too much sometimes. She had a real passion for music. Wildlife, too.

Thalia was looking at the singer. "_Ohmygod!_" she screamed. "That's him!"

"That's _who_?" Annabeth questioned.

"Enrique Martinez!" Thalia gasped. "He's the guy who sang-"

"Right," Percy repeated. "Thalia, why don't you come sit over here?" he said, leading all of them to a table in the corner. But Thalia wasn't listening. She saw the blond guy next to Enrique, who was now rapidly moving away, and pointed. "Look, that guy over there. I bet he requested the song."

"So?" Percy snapped.

"Ooh, he's cute!" Silena said excitedly.

Thalia nodded enthusiastically. "I know, right?"

Annabeth raised her sunglasses. Percy noticed that she never took them off. For the first time, he saw that she had grey eyes. On the bus, it was too dark and he couldn't tell the color of her eyes. "He's okay, I guess," Annabeth said coolly, but Percy could tell that she thought he was good looking, too.

"Okay, what's your type, Annabeth?" Silena asked.

"Oh, you know. Tall, dark, handsome mysterious stranger." Annabeth grinned to show that she was just kidding.

"Come on!" Silena urged.

Thalia, who had begun to get interested in the conversation, joined in. "Yeah, Annabeth."

"Really? Well, I guess…I do like the idea of dark hair. Black hair, maybe. Eyes have to be either blue or brown. Definitely," Annabeth flinched, "No red hair."

"Why?" Silena asked.

"Oh…um," Annabeth started. She really hadn't wanted to tell them, but now she was stuck.

Lucky for her, Thalia had already lost interest. Percy hadn't had any interest to begin with. "Come on, let's go see that guy," Thalia said.

"No thanks," Percy said. He was slipping into one of his _moods_. He didn't like thinking about red hair too much. It reminded him too much of college…and classmates. "It's gonna send him the wrong message if I come," he said, even though he knew that made no sense.

"What the hell? People of the same sex can be friends, Percy," Annabeth said.

"We don't even know him, all knowing wise person of the female persuasion," Percy snapped.

"Okay, first of all, I am not all knowing. Wise, maybe, but not all knowing. And second, _female _is a gender, not a ethnic group. I'm not of the female _persuasion. _There is no such thing as the _female persuasion_," Annabeth replied.

"What do you say I call you then?" Percy challenged. Rather lamely.

"Umm…how about my _name_?"

"I don't like it."

"Oh, gee, I'm terribly sorry. If I had known that I would meet you twenty two years after being born, and I could talk when I was born, I would've told my parents not to name me Annabeth!"

"Too late now."

"Yeah. So why don't you just call me by my real name and we can go say hi to that guy before Thalia starts drooling."

"Hey!" Thalia interjected. "Why bring _me_ and my saliva into this?"

"Because _she_-" Annabeth pointed at Silena "-isn't drooling over that guy. You are."

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!" 

"Shut up!" Percy said. Thalia and Annabeth did and looked sheepish. Silena chuckled. "Are we in second grade? I don't think so! Annabeth, there is no need to tell Thalia that she's drooling over that guy. Thalia, honey, you _are_ drooling over that guy."

Nobody said anything, although Thalia did glare at Percy threateningly.

"Shall we, ladies?" Percy said sarcastically, tilting his head towards where the blond-haired-blue-eyed guy was standing.

The approached him, elbowing and shouldering their way through the crowd.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

Luke saw them walking towards him. He looked around for Beckendorf, and saw him leaving the bathroom. He waved wildly, hoping that Beckendorf would notice. Luckily he did, and made his way towards Luke.

"What's up, man?" he asked.

"You have the cloth ready?" Luke asked frantically.

"Yeah. All of them. Are they here?" Beckendorf asked.

Luke nodded discreetly towards the four people heading towards the two of them. They were confident now. Not afraid to approach them.

Luke voiced this and Beckendorf chuckled blackly. "They would be if they knew!" 

Another second.

Another second.

Another second.

Another second.

Another second.

"Atrapado! Moribundo! Con estas ganas de bailar contigo!" 

Luke closed his eyes. This Enrique dude was getting seriously annoying.

Now they were standing face to face.

_This is it. Like Michael Jackson's tour…_ Luke's thoughts wandered like stupid sheep in a pasture.

All six stared at each other for a full .32431th of a second, before the girl with black hair said something.

"Hello. Are you the guy who requested this song?" Her question was accentuated by Enrique singing 'Dame jaleo, dame jaleo, jaleo' four times.

Luke tilted his head slightly towards Beckendorf, and then nodded. This was not only an answer to the chick's question, but a signal to Beckendorf. _Now_.

So quickly that none of them saw it coming, Beckendorf had thrown himself towards the four. He had two handkerchiefs scented by chloroform that would quickly make anyone smelling it pass out. One he slapped over the black haired dude's nose and mouth, and the other over the grey eyed chick's.

Luke quickly twisted the arms of the other two girls' arms so they were both facing the same direction as him. He whipped out the pocket knife out of his…well, his pocket, and held it to the blond's neck.

"Make a sound, and you all die," he whispered rather loudly. Luckily, in the crowded and mostly illegal club, nobody heard. Or cared.

Black haired girl's eyes widened, but she didn't look particularly afraid. She twisted back out of Luke's grip…but not before kicking him in his sensitive spot.

"Ahh!" he screamed in a voice that was decidedly higher pitched than before.

Luckily, Beckendorf had been expecting something like that to happen. The guy had already lost consciousness, and the girl was struggling weakly. He grabbed the girl who escaped Luke…and his grip was much stronger than Luke's. She tried to struggle with him, too, but she had the chance of a snowball in Hades. She screamed.

Quickly, Luke slapped his hand over her mouth, and in the same breath grabbed the guy who had already passed out. "What a pansy," he chuckled.

He kicked open the door (wincing as he did so) and shoved the groin kicker out, keeping his hand on her mouth. Making sure he kept the blue eyed blonde under his arm, he pushed through after. Beckendorf followed suit with the two who had passed out.

The door slammed shut behind them, and the last words they heard were actually lyrics from the singer.

"Ay dejate llevar porque esta noche tu seras mia

La luna llena sera mi testigo

Dame jaleo!"

The place was soundproofed. Even if the captives screamed now, nobody inside would hear, and all the occupants of the town were long asleep. It was about twelve now.

They somehow made it to their car, a beat up wagon from the days of teeny boppers and Elvis Presley…it fit in this town. They pushed all four of them into the backseat, taking a few seconds to hold the drenched cloth that they had put on the guy over the other two girls. And then they tumbled, themselves, into the front seats. Beckendorf drove and Luke…sat in the passenger seat.

"We live a crazy life, man," Beckendorf said to Luke, chuckling.

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

Annabeth was squashed uncomfortably, Percy's heavy weight pressing on top of her and Silena below her.

_ That's what she said!_ she thought dimly. But obviously, she didn't say anything. She realized that she would probably save her life if she pretended she had passed out, like Percy. But what had happened was that her cloth didn't have anything on it. This was not something she wanted to reveal to the two…hitmen?

Besides, everyone knew that you couldn't say that about your own comment.

"So where do we go now?" she heard from the front seat. She didn't know who said it, since she'd never heard either's voice. But she listened carefully to the reply.

"I don't think we should stay in state, man. He could find us too easily here."

_Who he?_ Annabeth wondered.

"Besides," the voice continued, "I know somewhere we can hide them."

"Where's the place?"

"It's in Kansas."

"Kansas?" he groaned. "That's hours from here!"

"I'm the one driving. What are you going to complain about, your butt hurts?"

"Whatever. So we'll hold them, threaten Chiron about the necklace, and then-"

"Pick up the money and then we're free."

The two of them laughed uproariously in the front seat. Annabeth suppressed the urge to kick them in the groin.

"You know, Beckendorf, this has got to be the best idea you've ever had," the Original Voice said.

"I know," the one called Beckendorf replied.

And then there was silence, except for the night air whistling through the windows. Annabeth took the time to reflect on what she'd heard.

They were holding the four of them captive for some necklace. This was a kidnapping, then. She didn't need to worry about her life; they'd want them to be hale and hearty. Or at least alive.

She didn't understand what necklace, though. They didn't have a necklace. Maybe Silena or Percy and Thalia did? Who knew?

They were going to Kansas. Kansas, Annabeth remembered, was nearing the Midwest part of America-if it wasn't _in _the Midwest. Annabeth had never been too good with geography in school.

She wanted to mull over their words some more, but hours of travel, mostly on foot, had caught up with her. She felt sleep coming on. It wasn't horribly comfortable, but it wasn't horribly _un_comfortable, either. It was pleasantly warm, too, and she was _really _really tired.

Her eyes, already closed, were halfway to dreamland. So was, in fact, the rest of her self. Now that she didn't need to worry about her life, she decided to give in to sleep.

Still, because she had a one-track mind, her last thought was: _Kansas is closer to New York. _

**A~H A L F~L I F E**

**AN:** Hey everyone! Thanks for all the reviews! It means a lot to me-and so do the alerts! Thank you all.

Thanks to Hp-not Harry Potter for the CC. Hope I did better this time…if not do give me more CC!

Thanks to Ana and Kari(ee)na for not hating me. :D You guys are awesome!

Please review…tell me if you like where this is going!

**xoxo Clara**

P.S. Songs for this chapter:

_Jaleo _by Ricky Martin

_Livin la Vida Loca_ by Ricky Martin. BUT NOT THE NORMAL VERSION! The Pablo Flores English Radio Edit Version.

The song with the "She bangs, she bangs, ay mirala…" thing is _She Bangs _by Ricky Martin.

Two points for anyone who figures out who Enrique Martinez is.

Playlist posted on my profile. :)

**PPS** The song that Luke was humming when Chiron was yelling at them was:

_Spanish Eyes_ by Ricky Martin

**PPPS ** I may or may not have a small obsession with Ricky Martin.


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